Eco-friendly soap manufacturer Method Products clearly believes in going big or going home when it comes to going green. In April they opened a 150,000-square-foot factory on the South Side in Pullman coupled with a 230-foot wind turbine and three 35-by-35-foot solar tracking trees. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. On Thursday, the facility officially became home to the largest rooftop greenhouse in the world.
Now that it's fully planted, the 75,000-square-foot greenhouse will produce a daily yield of more than 20,000 heads of lettuce and leafy greens to be distributed through the city’s retailers, restaurants and farmers’ markets.
The greenhouse is owned and operated by Gotham Greens, a Brooklyn-based company that runs three other rooftop farms in New York City. While it isn't open to the public, the rooftop is a big step in moving toward more sustainable food sources in Chicago. New York might be home to the tallest building in the country (if you count that spire), but our city’s massive green roof is way, way more badass.
This post was updated on November 19.